Explaining riots: Your task is to complete the essay proforma below through a combination of research and your prior

knowledge. You have 50 minutes to do as much as possible and then e mail the proforma to me. I will give you feedback and e mail it back by Monday you then need to re-draft your essay and re-submit it to me on Wednesday. Please leave the original comments in the proforma and complete your sections in a different colour font. Good luck Assess the view that the recent London riots were the result of political marginalisation and economic deprivation 24 marks Intro Define the key terms highlighted in the title and give a brief overview of sociological arguments for and against the title
The 2011 London riots had a huge impact across the whole of England, mainly in cities such as Birmingham, Manchester and other major cities. The urban disorder started with a protest in Tottenham due to the shooting of a young boy (Mark Duggan) by a Metropolitan police officer. Causing uproar, to which some took the opportunity to create social disorder and gain their own status and control in society. A Left realist would suggest that the participants either felt they were political marginalised. Others would argue it is economic deprivation and want for materialistic assets. It is clear that the belief is that the participants of the riots were the youth. Who are believed to have no political power and that their voice is not heard. Therefore, feel that to gain this they must take action (riots). They may also feel that this opportunity could allow them to achieve the materialistic needs, and not be deprived financially.

Official government report into riots Fortuitously this was published yesterday! Go on 4od and watch the channel 4 news from last night from about 15 minutes in. Make notes of what the report says were the causes of the riots and what should be done about it. Then write a paragraph summarising this and applying it to the question i.e. do they refer to these two concepts
In order to prevent this sort of outburst to occur again, a group of the community were put together to develop why the situation had gotten to so bad, this was made up of the Victims Panel and the Riots Community. The end result was a report, in which one of the main suggestions was that society should help families with several difficulties, rather than just targeting individuals. However this can only be achieved by the whole of the State working together and sharing information about certain families and their problems. This agreement; the Forgotten Families, consisting of 500,000 families who bump along the bottom. This scheme was to help the families to become well socialised by getting help from specialised nurses. Ensuring that the initial issue is targeted and resolved before it escalates into the rest of community. The report recommends that schools that fail to achieve a average level of educating the pupils to read and write should be fined. As this basic understanding is vital, and lack of it gives the individual no reason to stay out of trouble.

Scarman report into Brixton riots There were riots in Britain in the 1980s, research these on the BBC news website. Then find out about the Scarman report. Did it agree or disagree with the more recent report and how does it support the statement in the essay question?
Around 30 years before the riots in 2011, there was another big riot in Brixton (South London) which was said to be the biggest riot

Apply some theory Which sociologists would agree with the essay title and which would disagree..... do a paragraph for each you will probably have about three. For each describe the explanation they would give for the riot, compare it to the essay question and then do some brief evaluation Eg Subcultural theory, Marxism, functionalism, interactionism, realism Theory 1 - Agree

Theory 2 Sort of agree?

Theory 3 Disagree

Alternative explanations Cover explanations that you havent discussed through the theorists. You can research these or make them up based on your own sociological understanding. Eg racism, boredom, organised criminals

Conclusion Clearly answer the question: were the riots a political act committed by people

without any financial or economic power or were they simply criminal behaviour by young people looking for a laugh....... or is there a different explanation